Claim: A photograph shows an explosion in Tehran allegedly by Israel after Iran began its retaliatory drone attacks on 14 April.
Fact: The photograph is from 2021, and shows an explosion at an oil refinery in Tehran in June 2021.
On 14 April, X (formerly Twitter) user @Huberton posted a photo incorrectly claiming that it shows a recent explosion in Tehran.
The caption of the X post reads, “BREAKING: Reports of huge explosion in Tehran.”
The post followed soon after Iran’s retaliatory attacks on Israel on 13 April, and fails to mention that the explosion did not take place recently. In fact, the caption states that it is “breaking” news, thereby suggesting that the explosion occurred recently in the aftermath of Iran’s retaliatory attack, likely by Israel.
Iran began its attack on Israel in the late hours of 13 April, using more than 300 missiles and drones in retaliation to a suspected attack by Israel which targeted the Iranian embassy in Damascus, Syria, and killed top Iranian commanders.
On 18 April, Israel carried out a retaliatory military operation against Iran near Isfahan, where the country’s military bases and nuclear facilities are located. The details are unclear about the extent of the damage caused by the attack.
According to reports, Iranian authorities described some small explosions, a result of Iran’s air defence system targeting three drones reportedly from Israel.
While Iran has refrained from responding, any new military attack after this would prompt a swift response, “at maximum level,” Iranian officials told news media.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check conducted a Google reverse image search and found the photo in news reports published as early as 2021. According to these articles, the picture shows an explosion which took place at the time, at an oil refinery, south of Tehran.
A report by the Daily Mail, published on 2 June 2021, carries the image shared in the misleading claim along with the headline, “Huge blaze breaks out at key oil refinery south of Tehran – just hours after another mystery inferno caused Iran’s navy flagship to sink in the Gulf of Oman.” As per the description below the photograph, the explosion occurred at the petrochemical company Tondgooyan Petrochemical Co. due to “a leak in a liquefied gas line.”
The watermark visible at the bottom left corner of the photo in the article states that the copyrights of the original image belong to “AFP via Getty Images.” Taking cues from this, Soch Fact Check found the original Getty Images photo of the same refinery blast dated 2 June 2021. Titled, “TOPSHOT-IRAN-REFINERY-FIRE ” the image “shows smoke billowing from the site of a refinery fire in the Iranian capital Tehran,” according to its caption.
The photo in question was also used misleadingly by Meshawarmedia in February 2023 to suggest the picture shows explosion in Isfahan, Iran when a suspected drone from Israel attacked the military installation.
The misleading usage of the picture was condemned by users on BlueSky, a social platform launched in 2021. To quote one of the users, “It really can’t be stressed enough how much bad information is already being circulated and will be circulated over in the bad place in the coming hours and days.”
It is important to note that this fact-check does not attempt to verify whether an explosion took place in Tehran recently. However, Soch Fact Check concludes that an image on X claiming to show a recent explosion in Iran is in fact old, and dates back to 2021.
Virality
The original post garnered at least 115,000 views on X.
The image was also shared with the misleading claim on X here, and here. Additionally, it was shared here along with an embedded link to a news report, which also carries the old image of the explosion with the headline, “UNVERIFIED: Explosions Reported in Iran”.
The photo in question was also used misleadingly by Meshawarmedia in February 2023 to suggest that the picture shows an explosion in Isfahan, Iran when Kurdish groups from Iraq targeted the building complex of the Ministry of Defense.
Conclusion: A picture on X claiming to show a recent explosion reported in Tehran is old and actually shows a blast at an oil refinery which occurred in June 2021.
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Background image in cover photo: BBC
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